Heat's 'Magic' Johnson finds new life as death bowler

Spencer Johnson is enjoying his baptism of fire in the KFC BBL and after successfully navigating some daunting situations is forging a reputation as a reliable 'death' bowler.

In his fourth game, Brisbane Heat captain Usman Khawaja threw him the ball for the final over with globe-trotting T20 power-hitter Tim David (39 off 21) at the other end, requiring 18 to win.

Johnson conceded only five.

Two days later, Marcus Stoinis and the Melbourne Stars required 14 runs off Johnson's final over, of which he gave up only nine.

"You've got to want the ball (in those situations)," Johnson told the Unplayable Podcast, who was shown smiling to himself as he ran in to bowl the final ball to Stoinis.

"As a fast bowler you always want the ball in your hand and you want to have the game in your hands."

And yet despite holding his nerve against two of the game's most renowned finishers, Johnson doesn't see himself as final-over specialist.  

"I wouldn't say I'm a 'death bowler'," Johnson told the Unplayable Podcast.

"It's something I've definitely been working on and striving to achieve to get thrown the ball in the hard overs which I'm getting here, which is quite cool.  

"But it's something I'm definitely working on."

The tension was building in the final stages of the Heat-Stars clash on Sunday, as it appeared Stoinis was carrying the Stars home to an unlikely victory. 

But the normally reserved Johnson, who could be seen on the broadcast enjoying a bit of back-and-forth with the Australia allrounder, admitted he used the exchange as motivation for his own performance.  

"Big Stoiny, he's definitely got a presence," Johnson said.

"He's a good looking man. And he smells good.

"I just had to find something because of the way he was strutting around, I had to puff my chest out as well."

His sample size is small, but Johnson's statistics from his five BBL matches so far have got people asking why it's taken the 27-year-old so long to feature in the competition.

Of the players who have bowled at least 100 deliveries in BBL|12, only Jhye Richardson (51.8 per cent) has a higher dot ball percentage than Johnson (50.9 per cent).  

And Johnson's economy rate in the death overs (16-20) of 7.77 sits comfortably in the top bracket of the league. 

But Johnson's success, which has helped lift the Heat into the finals, hasn't happened overnight.

The South Australia native (who also holds a South Australia contract) was let go by the Adelaide Strikers after not playing a game despite being contracted for several seasons.

Johnson, who grew up idolising Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson, had been sidelined for more than two years in his early 20s as ankle stress fractures cruelled his development.

Johnson became aware of Queensland's new T20 Max competition via cricket.com.au and made a plan to get involved to get "a fresh set of eyes on me and show Queensland what I can do".

Friend and former teammate Leigh Drennan turned out to be the perfect connection and before long the tall left-armer has signed for Redlands, the home club of Marnus Labuschagne.

After a debut campaign where he finished as the league's most economical fast bowler, Johnson believes he owes Labuschagne credit for getting him his Heat gig.

"It was cool playing with Marnus," Johnson said.  

"And then I think Marn got in the coaches' ears up here and said 'yeah, I just played with him. I think we need to get him up'."